Ukrainian Pleads Guilty To Running Child Porn Site

Prosecutors in the United States say a Ukrainian man has pleaded guilty to setting up and running an international website that for years provided customers across the world with images and videos of children being sexually abused.

As part of the plea, Maksym Shynkarenko on January 8 agreed to a 30-year prison sentence.

Officials have called the 35-year-old Shynkarenko the biggest distributor of child porn ever prosecuted in the United States.

Prosecutors say the ongoing investigation into the website Shynkarenko operated has led to convictions in 47 states of more than 600 U.S.-based customers.

Since Shynkarenko’s extradition in June 2012 from Thailand — where he was vacationing — to the United States on the charges, officials have touted the massive investigation that grew out of the website’s discovery in 2005.